The Zimbabwe government has angrily denied reports that half the population will need food aid this year.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said the report was part of western plans to destabilise Zimbabwe ahead of elections due in March, state media reported.
A US-funded food monitoring body said last week that almost six million Zimbabweans would need food aid before the next harvest.
The opposition accuses the government of using food as a political tool.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its supporters are denied state hand-outs.
They say the government refuses international food aid in order to retain control of its distribution.
These claims are rejected by the government.
Last year, Mr Made said that, after three years of shortages, Zimbabwe had grown more than enough food to feed the population and even had a surplus.
Last week, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network reported that, of the 12.5 million Zimbabweans, some 5.8 million would need food aid before the next harvests in April.
"You see God has been smiling on us and we are lucky that in the northern parts there were some good rains in the last few days and crops are doing well," Mr Made was reported as saying in The Herald newspaper.
'Outpost of tyranny'
Government critics say the seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks has led to food shortages.
These claims are also rejected by the government.
"The land reform is a resounding success under the circumstances," Mr Made said.
Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Zimbabwe as one the world's last "outposts of tyranny."
The US and the European Union accuse President Robert Mugabe of rigging his 2002 re-election. Mr Mugabe denies the claims.
The only way for them to get any sadder and more messed up would be to start taking lessons from North Korea. If they haven't already.
SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
Mayabird wrote:
The only way for them to get any sadder and more messed up would be to start taking lessons from North Korea. If they haven't already.
Well I'm pretty sure they've already begun diverting food aid into stockpiles for the Army.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Give Mogabe credit. The Kims have been running North Korea into the ground for far longer than he has wrecking his. He's been doing an excellent job of catching up.
The Excellent Prismatic Spray. For when you absolutely, positively must kill a motherfucker. Accept no substitutions. Contact a magician of the later Aeons for details. Some conditions may apply.
Wena Mafuta
Mafuta Ye(bo)
Wena Mafuta Ye(bo)
Wena Kaka Fisi
As I sit here on the Serengeti
Sun touching down, Savannah so pretty
Hear the gentle hum of a tsetse fly
And I can't help but wonder
Wonder, why you've got to cry?
Why you've got to cry?
You say you're hungry but your belly is fat
Can you tell me what is up with that?
You're belly's so large - it is so bloated
It looks like you've eaten an entire goatherd
African Babies
Why you cry?
African Babies
Why you cry?
You see white folks and you can't sit with 'em
But don't bitch and moan 'cos you've got that natural Black rhythm
You eat your rice with your hand and I can't, I don't, understand
Why you don't use cutlery?
It's no wonder you've got dysentery
African Babies
Why you cry?
African Babies
Shut up and die
President Mugabe
He took all your food
President Mugabe
He's one righteous dude
Bleeding hearts see your bleeding eyes
And fall for your baby cries
But don't you point that bleeding ass at me
I'm not going to send you a cent of my money
When it comes to Human Rights
You don't have a patch on Whites
You once were a colony
But now you're stuck with Robert Mugabe
African Babies
Why you cry?
African Babies
Shut up and die
President Mugabe
He took all your food
President Mugabe
He's one righteous dude
The Fascist Fair Go Party loves Africans...
We think everyone should own one... or two
Sa bet
Sa bet maasi tambay
Sa bet
Daaw maasi tiit
Wena Mafuta
Mafuta Ye(bo)
Wena Mafuta Ye(bo)
Wena Kaka Fisi
